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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Garden Shed Floor Project Update

I've been working away on the floor of the newly renovated Garden Shed. I'm pushing to get this project done so that I can move on from painting with brushes to printing fabrics and more. This week I decided to paint a faux rug design featuring easy to paint flowers.

I began by drawing and cutting out 3 different size flowers out of a heavy paper. These were my templates. After I had the shapes, I used a quilting ruler to measure out a large square in the center of the room. Here is the start to the project with a border painted.

Next I began tracing the flowers on the plywood floor - placing them randomly. I painted them in.

I tried a few different colors to determine the background color.

I decided I didn't like any of them and painted over them with the original light pink color. Then I added the centers to the flowers.

Then it was to decide on the background color and do that. I chose a color I thought was bright pink but now looks more purple. I think I like it though. Lots of painting in the background and having to be very careful working around the shapes.

Lastly, I added a bright lime colored inner border.

Here's what it looks like after one coat on the border and background. I am going to add second coats to both of them - hopefully this afternoon.

I'm not sure if I am going to outline the flowers with lines like I usually do. The colors and shapes seem to be working together without lines. It is always hard to know when to stop. Since this is a project I will be writing instructions for, I am thinking I might leave off the lines so that it will be a little easier for people to copy. What do you think? Would love to hear.

I also vote for black outlining of somekind. And perhaps a little inner details, rib on leaves and stamens on flowers? I've done Bauernmalerie painting and it can get pretty detailed,but sometimes that over the top looks just right. Or as my mother-in-law used to say "Laudi how guadi." Helen

Looking at it makes me smile. It looks so cheerful. The red and yellow flowers stand out from the background but the peach (or more earth tone color) looks like it blends in. If I was going to add something it would be to the peachy/earth tone flowers.

hmm... Outlining... Difficult decision. However, if you decide to, go with a NAVY/COBALT/[dark INDIGO] instead of black. Or, perhaps a blue-ish CRIMSON..? You know, a black-cherry-ish tone. -- As nice as they are, all of those colours seem to carry the same tonal "temperature"... A shot of NAVY would pop them out.Think GAUGUIN..? [the Polynesian stuff]

Actually, maybe swap out that lavender for the navy. As much as I love the "purples", THAT shade against those coral-ish colours just isn't "doing it" for *ME*. [*MY* "bad" and '60s-Flashbacks!] ;-}

Then again, it IS the GARDEN Shed "floor"... That, will likely be covered in soil eventually any way! So, it's all probably a moot point in the end.

Now, if we were talkin' "YARN"... well. That's a whole OTHER spectrum of "opinion"!:-D

Wow! What a beautiful project! I really like it when you outline things. It causes them to pop, but I don't think this needs it. You may also want to ask Julia. I remember you talking about how she can identify that Kristin Nicholas look!

I have a different question. I know that you like a more worn patina. Will you leave the floor "as is" and let it wear or will you do any type of varnish or stuff to protect it?

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All words and photos are copyright by Kristin Nicholas. Please do not use my original photos or reprint my writing without asking me for permission. Please make sure you credit me as Photographer and link back to this blog. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me - my contact info is on the left sidebar. Thank you!